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Two of the very best D class amps available today?


Al Krow

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8 hours ago, xgsjx said:

Alex of Barefaced once said that he blew a larger watt rated driver with a relatively small amp.  Watts in a speakers rating are the thermal measurement for the voicecoil (how much heat it can take).

That's usually caused by the fact that a low powered amp will clip and send what is pretty well a square wave to the driver, which destroys it.

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On 19/03/2019 at 21:05, Bobthedog said:

Personally I would add the Glockenklang Blue Rock. The sound may be a bit modern for some, however, I have yet to see an amp that matches the build and sound quality of this one.

And following hard on the heels of Mick's timely thread divergence, there are a couple of Glocks in the FS too, right now including a Blue Rock.

Modern = hi-fi?

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25 minutes ago, ped said:

Just wanted to make sure my mate dUg gets a mention on this page.

dUg 

How is he your 'mate'? You've been keeping that particular relationship very quiet 😉

Besides the dUg's biggest fan, who unlike me can do clever things like spell his name right,  is already one step ahead of you...

On 20/03/2019 at 08:35, Cuzzie said:

How good amps are aside, the thing about EQ’s is knowing to use them.

A 4 or 5 band EQ is not necessarily better than a 3 band Baxendall or a classic Fender Tone Stack.

I agree about tone tone tone, and essentially it’s the same with coloured and non coloured cabs - you may preferentially want an amp to be less coloured as you have something before it giving you the sound you want.

In this case, the amps you mention are fine  beasts and nearly as good as the Tech21!

Edited by Al Krow
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1 hour ago, Al Krow said:

And following hard on the heels of Mick's timely thread divergence, there are a couple of Glocks in the FS too, right now including a Blue Rock.

Modern = hi-fi?

That is probably a fair description, however, I know Roland Rock uses his for reggae, so lashings of delicious thick bass too. Sadly mine too will be up for sale too sometime soon as I need to clear the decks for a move abroad.

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15 hours ago, ped said:

Just wanted to make sure my mate dUg gets a mention on this page.

dUg 

Around these parts a dUg is an animal that some folks keep as pets. 

"Arya seen air ole man?"

"Yu' he's tekkin' the dUg fra walk then eez goowin um f' summu' twet"

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I'm not sure its class d, but for the sake of this thread I'm presuming class d is anything not valve, most, solid state, class a/b etc, but the Quilter 800 bass block is fantastic.

Light as a feather, loud as anything, brilliant take on the eq settings, and lovely tone. Works brilliantly with the helix stomp too.

 

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48 minutes ago, la bam said:

I'm not sure its class d, but for the sake of this thread I'm presuming class d is anything not valve, most, solid state, class a/b etc, but the Quilter 800 bass block is fantastic.

Light as a feather, loud as anything, brilliant take on the eq settings, and lovely tone. Works brilliantly with the helix stomp too.

Apologies if this is teaching anyone to 'suck eggs' but as you said you were not sure...

Class D is solid state. It's not 'digital' which is a common (and reasonable!) misunderstanding given the 'D'. The Quilter absolutely is Class D.

Class A/B is also SS and the precursor to Class D. It tends to be a heavier power module than Class D and a lot of folk attribute it to having more 'heft'.

Then there is the 'Trans class' (Mosfet) SS which my Mesa M6 is, but I lump that in with Class A/B to keep it simple in my head! 

I guess the key feature of Class D is the clear combination of light weight and power. Which is why they have taken the amp world by storm and left bass valve amps and class A/B amps to folk who appreciate the finer things in life. And I'm definitely not knocking them, but my back has had a big say in things...

Edited by Al Krow
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On 19/03/2019 at 20:15, Al Krow said:

Middle aged spread can signify a whole load of medical ills. 

It's definitely not a laughing matter.

Surely Flora is the Middle Age Spread?*

 

*I'm allowed to laugh having fought MAS and won a sensible cholesterol level as a result...

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1 hour ago, Al Krow said:

Apologies if this is teaching anyone to 'suck eggs' but as you said you were not sure...

Class D is solid state. It's not 'digital' which is a common (and reasonable!) misunderstanding given the 'D'. The Quilter absolutely is Class D.

Class A/B is also SS and the precursor to Class D. It tends to be a heavier power module than Class D and a lot of folk attribute it to having more 'heft'.

Then there is the 'Trans class' (Mosfet) SS which my Mesa M6 is, but I lump that in with Class A/B to keep it simple in my head! 

I guess the key feature of Class D is the clear combination of light weight and power. Which is why they have taken the amp world by storm and left bass valve amps and class A/B amps to folk who appreciate the finer things in life. And I'm definitely not knocking them, but my back has had a big say in things...

It’s probably a lot easier to look purely at solid state vs Vacuum Tube amplifiers.

Once in each area then you can break down the why’s and where fores.

Class A goes through to about T and within these classes is all about your transistors, dissipation Of heat, how much gain to bring into the signal.

Class A to C have various degrees of just under 180 degrees of conduction through to 360 degrees

Class D to T use non linear on off switching.

All this leads into efficiency, power loss, distortion of signal.

Vacuum tubes need power voltage, more heat dissipation and are very linear, hence ‘cranking’ to get the break up, obviously you need a few to ramp up the signal.

Mesa call them themselves ‘Trans class’ and have trademark by it, it’s just a bunch of transistors really. It’s not necessarily A/B but it will have its own characteristics.

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5 hours ago, Al Krow said:

Class D is solid state. It's not 'digital' which is a common (and reasonable!) misunderstanding given the 'D'.

Ah, that old chestnut again. I disagree with this because the output from the power amplifier side, in it's raw state is either on or off, hence digital, even if the cotrolling mechanism is analogue.

 

Edited by Count Bassy
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31 minutes ago, Count Bassy said:

Ah, that old chestnut again. I disagree with this because the output from the power amplifier side, in it's raw state is either on or off, hence digital, even if the cotrolling mechanism is analogue.

 

That makes my light switch digital control... I suppose I work it with my finger!

Edited by Stub Mandrel
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40 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

Ok that is funny. But is it a fair comparison to what @Count Bassy was saying? 

Yes, if the criteria for digital is that something that works by having only an 'on' and 'off' state is digital, it is a fair point.

Actually class D amps switch between three states you could call 1, 0 and -1.

Personally, although class D amps lend themselves to direct digital control, I wouldn't class them as any more digital than PWM motor controllers (in fact I am sure you could use them as voltage controlled motor controllers if they are modified to be DC coupled).

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On 08/05/2019 at 10:55, Al Krow said:

Apologies if this is teaching anyone to 'suck eggs' but as you said you were not sure...

Class D is solid state. It's not 'digital' which is a common (and reasonable!) misunderstanding given the 'D'. The Quilter absolutely is Class D.

Class A/B is also SS and the precursor to Class D. It tends to be a heavier power module than Class D and a lot of folk attribute it to having more 'heft'.

Then there is the 'Trans class' (Mosfet) SS which my Mesa M6 is, but I lump that in with Class A/B to keep it simple in my head! 

I guess the key feature of Class D is the clear combination of light weight and power. Which is why they have taken the amp world by storm and left bass valve amps and class A/B amps to folk who appreciate the finer things in life. And I'm definitely not knocking them, but my back has had a big say in things...

MOSFET is just a different type of transistor it stands for Metal Oxide Silicon Field Effect Transistor. Like valves and bipolar transistors, it can be used in class A, A/B, B, D G or H amps. 

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On 08/05/2019 at 17:41, Stub Mandrel said:

Yes, if the criteria for digital is that something that works by having only an 'on' and 'off' state is digital, it is a fair point.

Actually class D amps switch between three states you could call 1, 0 and -1.

Personally, although class D amps lend themselves to direct digital control, I wouldn't class them as any more digital than PWM motor controllers (in fact I am sure you could use them as voltage controlled motor controllers if they are modified to be DC coupled).

The point about Class D is that it uses Pulse Width Modulation. If is modulated then amplified and demodulated ( yes it is a form of Modem)  I would argue that the PWM output is analogous to the input signal In the same way FM Radio is. It never enters the digital domain. 

Of course the PWM section could be digitally controlled but that does not make it a digital amplifier as the signal is not digitally processed. 

Some people think that as digital systems are switching systems, that the switching aspect of class D must be digital. While both are non-linear they are not both digital, 

Thr French use the word Numerique instead of digital. That is because digital processing is based on the binary or octal numbering systems.

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